


All New: Faded For Her Tour Takes Denerim

by notnowcommander



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AU, F/M, Rock Band AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4943215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notnowcommander/pseuds/notnowcommander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the past few years, Thedas has been more than enraptured by the sensation that is DreadWolf, the sultry rock band led by elven apostate Solas, or as he calls himself the Dread Wolf. Entertainment publication ThedasBeat takes an inside look at the band, the crew, and the fans, all in the midst of the phenomenon. But is DreadWolf's fame only temporary, or does the elusive lead singer plan on taking his fame elsewhere, with ulterior motives?</p>
            </blockquote>





	All New: Faded For Her Tour Takes Denerim

A cool rush of wind slips through the open crack by the stage door, while the band begins to bring in their equipment. It’s the fourth night into the sold out Faded For Her World Tour, and the members of DreadWolf are beginning to arrive at their nightly venue. The empty, dingy bar just outside of Denerim leaves much to the imagination, as hardly anyone could expect the seemingly “magical” things that will appear on stage later that evening.

Drummer Iron Bull hauls the largest of his drums up to the stage, dropping them to the ground with a thud.

“All in one piece, chief?” his personal assistant and longtime friend, Cremisus Aclassi asks.

Bull pulls a drumstick out of his back pocket and bangs on the head of the drum. It echoes through the room, and someone in the back alley shouts an expletive, eliciting a teasing smile from the Qunari drummer.

“Oh yes,” he hisses, and throws an arm around his pal before making a beeline to the bar.

More members of the crew bustle into the tavern, lugging clipboards and sound equipment, all from soft and sexy rhythm guitarist Cullen Rutherford, to the first of three stage managers, Dorian Pavus, loudly complaining about the dust and dirt all over the venue.

The band has released several albums since forming several years ago, but it was only recently that their fame began to reach to all corners of Thedas, when DreadWolf released their latest album “Faded For Her”, with a new sound and feel that by law only lead singer Solas is allowed to explain.

“It’s something I like to call the Fade Touch,” he explains. The singer sits in a private room in the venue, a far cry from the dank and musty club the rest of his band and crew must inhabit. He dons his traditional leather pants, fur vest, wolf totem around his neck. Truthfully, the elf sometimes looks more like a homeless beggar outside of The Pearl, piecing together whatever hap-hazard clothing he could find, but the singer carries himself as if he has a greater master plan that only he could even come close to comprehending. Perhaps, that is what adds to the sex appeal. Perhaps.

“It’s the kind of music that takes listeners so far into a state of relaxation, it’s almost as if they’re dreaming.”

When asked “why dreaming? What is special about that?”, Solas smiles, tilting his head with a wolfish grin that says “I thought you’d never ask”, approval clearly displayed on his normally stoic face.

“Tell me, have you ever journeyed so deep into your mind and imagination that you were able to hear the words of those long dead? Did they tell you their stories, show you ancient battlefields, the world that stood before this?”

Naturally, we had no idea how to respond, but let the elf continue on his seemingly hallucinogenic lecture. He speaks as if he is right, as if he knows exactly what he’s saying. Which is excellent, because it’s somewhat clear that no one else does.

“I can find memories no other living being has ever seen,” he finishes, setting down a cup of tea in a fancy cup. He scowls at it. His team asks him if there was an issue with the tea. Solas furrows his brows, wrinkling his pristinely shiny bald head, and nods. “It’s tea. I detest the stuff. Bring more.”

The star is certainly that. His every demand is met, and his crew follows him in perfect suit, tending to his every whim, and some of which are ridiculous. In the time that ThedasBeat spent with DreadWolf, we witnessed many. Stage manager Sera was ordered to retrieve plants to add to the ambiance for the night. He specifically ordered strings of elfroot, and demanded that fellow stage manager Dorian weave small braziers of veil fire in the plant weave. The firebrand elf left the venue muttering something about planting bees within the elfroot, but returned with several bouquets of elfroot, where she and Pavus quickly began weaving and lighting the plants. Perhaps that’s the real “fade touch” is, as elfroot’s medicinal purposes were discovered in 4:20.

In just a few short years, the band’s fame has gone from obsolete to world renowned. Every soul in Thedas, even the dwarves in Orzammar have heard Faded For Her, and dream about it on the regular. Really. No one really knows where Solas came from, what he did before he formed DreadWolf. He croons of mysterious places called Skyhold, and sometimes chants in languages that very few can understand, and looks dashing in leather pants, as per public opinion.

Fans flock from all across Thedas to hear the band play and be touched by whatever it is DreadWolf plans to unleash on the world. ThedasBeat was able to catch a brief interview with a lucky fan who asked only to be referred to as Cole, a small, gaunt little boy donning a large sunhat, that very clearly does its job, as his skin is translucent as the fine silk sheets Solas demanded be brought up to his suite.

“It seems like I know who I am when I listen to his music. It’s like he understands what I am.”

When we asked what exactly he was, he couldn’t formulate a proper answer. It was only because we’d been writing it down that we remembered the interaction at all. We did not see Cole again. However, it was reported that he was spotted hanging from rafters, enjoying the show from afar.

Yet, it’s clear that with all the success DreadWolf has experienced in the past several years, something is brewing in the band, and we don’t know what. No one does. Even the band members don’t really understand what Solas’ end goal here is. Just that they’re along for the ride, playing into his plan.

Lead guitarist Leliana, who formerly worked as Left Hand for the Divine, but left her position to pursue a music career - she is a bard after all - tunes the strings of her lute and hums the notes to herself. Her signature red bob and lavender hood shroud the guitarist in mystery, and a mystery she is. She appears as if she has all the secrets of the world at her disposal. We wouldn’t be shocked if she had a task force of agents, ready to quell any ill rumors that happen to befall the band.

“I hesitate at all means to call Solas an enigma, but it is truly the only word that comes close,” the Orlesian snaps, words like venom. We learn to never interrupt her lute tuning again.

Next to her, is the other apple of Thedas’ thirsty eye: Cullen Rutherford, decked in his usual, overdressed, fur-laden stage armor. As the band rose to fame, the ex-Templar’s popularity did as well. Attracting men and women alike, the Fereldan’s fans have taken to calling themselves Cullenites, frequently asking the bashful backup guitarist to sign unmentionable areas of the body and tempt him to “put his sword to good use”.

“Even Kirkwall was quieter than this,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sometimes it’s a bit much to handle. Truthfully, none of us expected Solas’ plan to go this well, or to go this far.”

It’s then that Solas enters, this time, snapping orders at his crew to arrange the lights. He stands boldly at the center of the stage, and adjusts the fur around his shoulders. He nearly matches Cullen’s level of pelt-iness, but Solas’ oozes style while Cullen’s seeps with practicality. In fact, we’re not entirely sure Cullen ever takes his off. When we asked band stylist Vivienne De Fer for her expertise, she waved us off, revealing she’s hardly even allowed to touch Rutherford’s hair. He demands to do it himself.

“The light is not reflecting off my head enough,” Solas says, his voice a quiet and powerful roar, and lighting and stage manager - and part time serial writer - Varric Tethras raises the lights, causing the elf’s head to glimmer, so bright you need shades. We still don’t know, but perhaps this is the Fade Touch he’s been hinting at. Tethras, however, grunts that the Qunari invasion of Kirkwall was a less stressful event than any single show with the elusive DreadWolf himself.

“I lived in Kirkwall when the Champion did her thing. You know the Champion of Kirkwall, right?”

Yes, Mr. Tethras. We all know who the Champion of Kirkwall is, and half of Thedas has read your book, and a one Cassandra Pentaghast is reported to have stabbed a knife through at least one copy, and cried over the entirety of Swords and Shields, for some reason. When we asked the head of security if this was true, she refused to speak with us, but the light that was supposed to be illuminating Solas’ squeaky clean head glinted off her eyes. There were definitely tears on the way. Case closed.

“You know what… wait a minute,” the dwarf says, stroking his luscious, golden chest hair (he let us touch it. It is luscious indeed). “Daisy talked about the Dread Wolf. Something like “May the Dread Wolf… date you? Hate you? Take you! Take you! May the Dread Wolf take you. Shit, that’s good. We should put that on one of our t-shirts. She totally saw this coming.”

Speaking of dating the Dread Wolf, there are rumors that the lead singer and the current band manager have been keeping a romance under wraps. And while ThedasBeat was unable to gain confirmation from either of their reps (delightfully ruffled publicist Josephine Montilyet denied the rumors that Solas and manager Lavellan were a hot item, and offered us cookies. We love her) we certainly saw enough for ourselves.

From the exterior, the elf seems to be so set on domination and his plan to take Thedas by storm, leather pants, shiny head and all. But in private moments he stole away when he thought no one was watching, the singer does appear to have a soft side for one lovely girl named Lavellan.

She follows the band around, giving orders and organizing. Once she shows up to set, everything runs ten times smoother, and it appears as though maybe she is the one truly in control and calling the shots. They call her “herald” and treat her as royalty, and commands all of them in a way that makes them want to listen.

“Sure,” Tethras comments, “I listen to our Herald. Better than Chuckles, that’s for sure. Someone’s got his druffalo pants a little too tight in there.”

“Lady Lavellan came to us and united us all. We feel like a force. Not just some lackeys,” Cassandra Pentaghast adds, leaning her weight against the dwarf’s head. He grunts and she ignores it.

Before the show begins, Solas steals the manager away to a dark corner, lighting a small brazier of veil fire between them and gives her a smile so tender no one quite thought it possible. He’s a shout into the void from the fierce, animalistic crooner he is on stage. He’s publicly spoken out about his contempt for the Dalish and their culture, but he traces the shapes and lines around Lady Lavellan’s face with such love. He calls her “vhenan” and holds her close, sliding a leg between hers to brush her extra close to him.

The quiet and commandeering singer kisses her passionately before going onstage, and when she pulls away, he continues, causing her to giggle, something so sweet and sensitive. ThedasBeat’s booth is located just by the stage, we swear we are not snooping.

We were unable to grab a word with the lovely manager, but we were able to watch her throughout the course of the night. There were times during DreadWolf’s set where the songs singing the praises of Elven glory did fall flat, and the songs about love, and more sexual domination soared. And the difference was who the esteemed lead singer was glancing at during the set. If his steely eyes were on Lavellan, it seemed as if his motive changed drastically.

To us, it seems as if DreadWolf does have some kind of larger plan for their career and for Thedas, but with Lady Lavellan so closeby, the frontman himself wavers and becomes a new individual. He no longer seems like the man who orders the softest sheets to his room, or who orders sad Sera and Dorian to weave together contraptions made of elfroot and veil fire. He seems capable of love, rather than whatever it is that the band sets out to accomplish each night.

“A selfish thing, love is. It distracts us from what we must do, but we do it anyway,” the frontman says to the crowd, eyes setting on the lovely herald in the front row, and sets into his next song.

Reports all over Thedas indicate something massive, a large elven population purchasing their tickets to DreadWolf’s latest shows as the Faded For Her tour sweeps across Thedas. There is a militant increase of whispers among elves all over the world, and they’re all singing the praises of the DreadWolf. With their new record just released, it would be too soon for these whispers to contain any rumors of new songs or big news. Perhaps it could be of something else. Of another career path or venture that Solas plans to take in the coming future.

For now, all of Thedas remains enraptured by the sweet sounds of DreadWolf and the Faded For Her record; and as for crew, while they have their discrepancies before the show, the second Tethras brings up the lights on the elf’s glistening head, and Leliana begins the rifts on her lute, it’s as if the world falls into a perfect harmony at the hands of the Dread Wolf himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of contemplating turning this into something longer or more fleshed out? Maybe? Yes? No? You tell me.


End file.
